New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks: What to watch for

It’s a whole new adventure this season for the Knicks

The 2018-19 New York Knicks season is finally here and the Knickerbockers are facing an Atlanta Hawks team that they could very well defeat despite the fact that they won’t have their best player in Kristaps Porzingis.

The Hawks were one of the worst teams in the NBA last season, but drafted former Oklahoma star Trae Young in he first round and added veterans Jeremy Lin and Vince Carter this past offseason. They could defeat a young Knicks team under a new head coach in David Fizdale.

Here are some things to watch out for during the game:

Team Chemistry

The Knicks are almost an entirely new team without Kristaps Porzingis and with Kevin Knox, Allonzo Trier, Mario Hezonja and others now in the mix.

Not to mention that with the Knicks starting Frank Ntilikina at shooting guard alongside Trey Burke at the point, this is much different back court than what New York started with last season with Ramon Sessions and Courtney Lee.

Lance Thomas is also starting so overall it will be interesting to see how this gels in their first regular season game.

Oh…and don’t forget head coach David Fizdale has brought in an entirely different system that includes a fast paced offense.

Point guards

With the preseason now over, we’re still waiting for a point guard to step up.

Trey Burke looked the best, but not by much, which is why he’s getting the start against the Hawks.

One thing is for sure, if Burke wants to keep the job, he’s going to have to continue to outplay Ntilikina and Emmanuel Mudiay.

The rookies

We all thought that Knox would start, but he won’t. Instead he’ll come off the bench and this makes sense given the fact that he struggled during New York’s final three preseason games.

I’m sure the Fizdale will give Knox plenty of time on the floor to get out of his current funk.

While Knox showed some promise during the preseason, the one rookie that really stood out was Allonzo Trier. So will we see him against the Hawks?

I think so, with Lee expected to sit out, I could see Trier getting 8-10 minutes.